Louisville metallic hardcore insurgents Knocked Loose are living out a truly insane existence. Knocked Loose have been a big band in the heavy-music world since the pre-pandemic days, and they continue to get bigger even as their music gets more and more intense and abrasive. Right now, they’re first-time Grammy nominees, and they’re headlining next year’s Outbreak Fest in Manchester. Last night, they made their televised debut, and they made that shit count.

Knocked Loose were on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night. That alone is crazy. The band made it crazier. They played outdoors, on the show’s festival stage, which means that people got to mosh to them. They played in the pouring rain. They played with firepots going off at all the big moments. They weren’t just a hardcore band on TV; they were a hardcore band getting a chance to actually represent themselves on TV.

On the proper Kimmel show, the metal-adjacent internet cult star Poppy joined Knocked Loose onstage, and they blasted through their bruising, damaging, Grammy-nominated collab “Suffocate.” With the rain coming down and the fire shooting up, it looked and sounded unbelievably dramatic. Watch that below.

While they were out on that Kimmel festival stage, Knocked Loose played a five-song, 16-minute set, and people stuck with them through the rain. The Kimmel people recorded that one, but the full video isn’t up yet. However, people in the crowd were there to document it, so you can watch fan footage of the whole thing below.

“It looks like we got a mosh pit beginning there,” Kimmel said before introducing the band. “Make sure none of your teeth get knocked loose.” At which point drummer Kevin Kaine got in a rim shot.

Apparently not all viewers loved it. The Mirror quoted some Facebook commenters who are demanding an apology from Jimmy Kimmel Live!:

“You know I was trying to enjoy the program. I was sitting on the couch with my son who is an ADOLESCENT waiting to see the musical guest because we like the nice music the show usually books. By the third or fourth ‘JUNT’ from the guitars my son was in tears. He doesn’t like scary things and quite frankly I think the Kimmel show and its staff should make a formal apology.”

Knocked Loose’s album You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To is out now on Pure Noise.